Bills, Bills, Bills

Direct marketers who believe the best government is that which governs least can't be too pleased with the current spate of bills floating around Washington. Virtually every channel is facing game-changing legislation, with even the nascent mobile marketing sector coming under scrutiny.

If there's a bright side, the lawmaking process generally moves at a crawl. Specific bills will go through Congress, be lobbied for and against, referred to committees and reconciled by both chambers before being passed — if they get that far. It's been said that it often takes three congressional cycles for a law to get on the books.

Here are some of the proposed measures DM advocacy groups have been tracking. Since most are languishing in committees and Congress is focused on the November elections, it's doubtful they'll be approved anytime soon. Those placed on a legislative calendar are more likely to have the House or Senate take action on them at some point.

H.R. 1652: The Protection from Telemarketers Act

The good news is that if this bill is passed, politicians would no longer be able to pontificate about telemarketers interrupting their constituents' dinners. The bad news is that it would ban telemarketing calls between the hours of 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. Currently, telemarketers are not allowed to place calls after 9 p.m. or before 8 a.m.

Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection.

S. 215: The Internet Freedom Preservation Act

This bill would prevent Internet service providers from restricting access to sites or services. It states that the quality of service, speed, access and bandwidth given to any broadband service provider's user must be equivalent, regardless of affiliated content, applications or services. The legislation further prohibits ISPs from charging based on the type of content, applications or services on its network.

Status: Referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

S. 1726: The Business Activity Tax Simplification Act of 2007 (and similar)

This measure and those of its ilk seek to implement and standardize tax-collection practices for long-distance sales. While there are many nuances to these proposals, both important and otherwise, the primary issue is whether a physical presence in a state is necessary before taxes can be collected, what connotes a physical presence, and which tax rates should be applied.

Status: Referred to the Committee on Finance. Similar bills include S. 34 (referred to the same committee) and H.R. 3396 (referred to the Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property).

H.R. 958: The Data Accountability and Trust Act (and similar)

An omnibus bill that's relevant to anyone who as much as looks sideways at a data file. It proposes a variety of practices which any organization that stores or brokers personal information would have to follow. It also would require companies to notify both affected consumers and the Federal Trade Commission in the event of a security breach.

Specifically, the act would compel firms to set security policies regarding the collection and dissemination of personal information; identify an individual who'd be responsible for the management of information security; create a process for assessing security risks in a data management system; establish a process for correcting and mitigating recognized vulnerabilities; and set up a means to dispose of obsolete data so that it would be permanently unreadable. Information brokers also would be required to submit their policies to the FTC.

Any information broker that experienced a security breach would further be asked to conduct an independent audit of its practices by an entity that hadn't reviewed its security activities within the past five years. Additionally, these brokers would have to allow anyone who asked to examine their personal information to do so once a year at no cost, and would have to place a “conspicuous notice” on their Web sites detailing how consumers could access that information. The bill also calls for such brokers to correct inaccurate data, or provide corroboration for disputed nonpublic information.

Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection. Similar, less comprehensive bills include S. 239 (placed on Senate legislative calendar under general orders); S. 495 (placed on Senate legislative calendar under general orders); S. 806 (referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs); S. 1178 (placed on Senate legislative calendar under general orders);S. 1260 (referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs); H.R. 516 (referred to the Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census and National Archives); and H.R. 1685 (referred to the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection).

H.R. 5769: The Smash (Stop M-Spam Abuse as a Sales Industry Habit) Act of 2008

This bill, which boasts one of the clunkier monikers among those noted here, shows that Congress now views the mobile channel as mature enough to merit consideration.

It would prohibit marketers from sending unsolicited text messages to cell-phone numbers listed on the FTC's National Do Not Call Registry.

Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection.

H.R. 4298 (No clever name attached)

Would prohibit politically oriented recorded messages from being placed to any number on the National Do Not Call Registry. Why include this one? Because of the impact it could have on vendors that supply these services to political campaigns.

Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection.

No matter how savvy a marketer you are, you can't do it alone.

Here's a list of trade associations and groups that can help you determine the best practices in different channels.

American Association of Advertising Agencies
www2.aaaa.org
212-682-2500

American Teleservices Association
www.ataconnect.org
317-816-9336

Association of National Advertisers
www.ana.net
212-697-5950

Direct Marketing Association
www.the-dma.org
212-768-7277

Email Sender and Provider Coalition
www.espcoalition.org
207-351-1500

Information Technology Industry Council
www.itic.org
202-737-8888

Interactive Advertising Bureau
www.iab.net
212-380-4700

Mailing and Fulfillment Service Association
www.mfsanet.org
703-836-9200

Mobile Marketing Association
www.mmaglobal.com
303-415-2550

National Mail Order Association
www.nmoa.org
612-788-1673

Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization
www.sempo.org
781-876-8866

Web Analytics Association
www.webanalyticsassociation.org
781-876-8933

Word of Mouth Marketing Association
www.womma.org
312-853-4400